Xander totally surprised me tonight and brought the Magna-Doodle to me three times in succession with the BEST drawings!!! Up until now, he’s gotten really frustrated with the drawing thing, so it’s REALLY exciting for me and for him that his hands are starting to catch up with his mind. I’m so proud of my little, budding artist. Pictured below are Roman, a fish, and Mommy (in that order).
After we dropped Jonas off at school and I laid Roman down for his morning nap, Xander and I had fun in the front yard, adding to his nature collection. He started out with dirt and rocks and leaves and ended up dumping them all out in favor of buttercups…now that’s a little boy after my own heart!!! After we picked every buttercup we could find in our front yard, he wanted to start another collection of clover and dandelions and so we did that too.
Roman had his first haircut today!!! He did such a good job. He sat by himself while I held on to him a little to make sure he didn’t fall out of his seat. I was surprised he didn’t start wiggling sooner than he did (but he was totally into watching his brothers play with Mrs. Leann’s kids while she cut his hair in her kitchen.) I’m not going to lie…I got a little teary-eyed watching his sweet baby curls fall to the floor. But he’s still got some upstarts of curls left that can’t help but wing out, so that just delights my heart (I’ve never had a curly headed baby before…hehe!). Sweet baby Ro!!!
Here are a few of Jonas’ most recent one-liners:
“Mom, do our teeth grind up food just like the blender and the sink?”
“Dad, is your dog missing you at heaven?”
“I love the smell of you…those clothes smell like girls, Mom.”
“Daddy, would you stop Xander from making noise? I didn’t even have a piece of quiet yet.”
We’re all looking for our “piece of quiet”, Jonas. HaHa!!!
When Xander and I were washing up the strawberries we picked to get them ready to make Maw’s delicious strawberry cake recipe this weekend, he reminded me of Petra’s birthday. So, we decided to make the cake in honor of her and throw her a little birthday party. The boys made her cards and party hats for all of their stuffed animal doggy friends that they invited to the party. It was pretty sweet. Here’s a picture of four year old Petra and all of my guys.
The boys and I went strawberry picking this morning with our mom’s group…something we’ve all been looking forward to since last year…with an added bonus…Daddy surprised us and walked in the door just before we were about to leave to let us know that he took the afternoon off from work to go with us!!! We had a big time picking strawberries, ate a picnic lunch afterwards, and enjoyed some homemade strawberry-honey popsicles for dessert.
In his fourteenth month, Roman is: doing the signs for light and up; nodding yes with much deliberation; saying “up”, “ut” for “out”, “ap” for “apple”, and “ope” for “open”; using “ah-guh” and passionate grunts and gestures as his main mode of communication (“oatmeal” is more like “oh-guh”, “cheese” sounds like a very nasal “ch”, and “JoJo” is “guh-guh”); waving to us at meal times and kicking off the prayer by putting both hands up in the air; going to sleep awake for naps and bed time; learning how to sleep through the night FINALLY; getting a kick out of throwing away his own diaper; becoming very fascinated with Jonas’ tricycle; breathing a sigh like mommy at nursing times and cracking up about it; and loving his favorite book “Five Silly Monkeys”.
At thirty-four months, Xander is: ALL ABOUT his tricycle (he’s really starting to figure out how to steer it); super into getting dressed by himself (socks and shoes and all…go, Xander!) and picking out his own clothes; showing a lot of frustration towards Roman (thankfully, seeing Jonas go through the very same thing with Xander, is affording me a little bit of perspective); starting to try to color inside the lines all of his own accord and to use his scissors to cut on a line that he draws; dropping his afternoon nap several times a week; and totally loving apple juice, floor puzzles, and The Ladybug Game.
Here’s a picture of Jonas and Xander hanging out on the glider I (finally) finished painting.
Jonas and Xander and I went for a walk this morning and enjoyed splashing in the puddles and checking out all the things that wash up after a rainy night (worms, slugs, caterpillars, and snails). We had fun playing in the garage this afternoon too…Jonas was all about the rocket ship Tom made for him out of a cardboard box, Xander loved riding his tricycle around and around in circles, and Roman liked toting around his plastic shovel.
This morning, while Tom was working in the garage and Roman was taking his morning nap, the boys and I headed out to the backyard to play. We played soccer and tried to replace the batteries in the cheering goal, and then we ended up moving the pavers from around the blueberry and raspberry to dig up the grass and weeds and add a little bit more soil. Then, I remembered a fun Pinterest idea of having kids paint bricks for garden pathways and decided that we TOTALLY needed to do that today. We busted out the drop cloth, smocks, wipes, paint-filled egg cartons, brushes, and pavers and the boys had a giant go of it. Yay for backyard sunny day fun and for the little boys who bring color to my life!!!
Jonas had a t-ball game this morning, and all three boys enjoyed themselves. Xander had a BLAST transferring pine straw mulch from one shrub to another with the little sister of one of Jonas’ teammates who was his age…it was so super cute to watch them work together on their project…here’s a picture of their creation. Roman was a wild man…pretty much all over the place, checking things out…trying to climb up the fence and onto the bleachers and other people’s camp chairs. And Jonas played against his best little buddy, Tucker, from preschool (who changed schools this winter), so it was adorable to see them together again…here’s a picture of them, relaxing on the bleachers, after the game.
Tom and Jonas skipped out for an impromptu father/son dinner tonight with father/son buddies, Nahshon and Grayson. It was so cute and warmed my heart…I had to snap a picture before they left. How blessed and thankful are we to have a daddy like Tom!!!
We’re trying to resurrect our evening walks now that it’s warmed up a bit. Roman loves to get out of the stroller and blaze a trail. Here he is with a dandelion that caught his eye and made him break out into a big smile…so precious. And here are Jonas and Xander, fascinated with a dead snake that Daddy picked up with a stick for them (don’t you love Jonas’ head-to-toe camo, backwards shirt, and swim shoes?).
The boys and I LOVE going to storytime every week at the library. It’s always interesting with my three little wild men…they all pretty much act their age (haha). Jonas has gotten to where he sits quietly, pays attention, and responds to Mrs. Karen’s questions. Xander usually goes and gets a book and sits in my lap and then gets frustrated with Roman for trying to get into his space. And Roman likes to toodle around, giving moms and kids alike pats, looking in diaper bags, and pulling books off the shelf. We’re so thankful for our sweet and understanding librarian, Mrs. Karen. I snapped this picture of her with the boys today after story, craft, and snack time and after the boys had picked out their books. She’s been reading to them since Jonas was younger than Xander and Xander was in the Bjorn!!! Yay for our community and yay for the library!!!
The boys and I have been working hard in the garden, and I think we finally got it all in!!!
Last year, I tried to plant as many perennials as possible, so we had a good start already with our rosemary, lavender, sage, oregano, thyme, Black-Eyed Susans, yarrow, strawberries, blueberries, and bulbs (hyacinths, muscari, anemones, and daffodils).
We decided to add a few more herbs (chives, cilantro, and basil), vegetables (squash, zucchini, green beans, and cherry tomatoes), flowers (hollyhocks, foxgloves, lupines, and delphiniums), and fruits (raspberries) this year. And we also started a little shade garden under the steps with hostas and impatiens. So, we’ll see how it goes…how it grows.
It felt like summer today, so I busted out the water table and the baby pool for the boys this afternoon. They had a blast…especially when Daddy came home and created a sprinkler effect with the garden hose for them to run in (I was so happy to see that Xander was still just as much of a water dog as he was last year.)
Jonas had his first t-ball game today!!! He’s had several practices since the beginning of March, but there was just something about seeing him in his little (or big, in his case) uniform and baseball cap and helping him tie up his cleats this morning that really got me emotional. Our little guy is growing up!!! It was a big morning at the park with team pictures and playground time before the game, so the whole team was asking if the game was almost over before it really even got started. They all did great, though, playing on a much bigger field than they were used to (they’ve been practicing in a grass field, so several of them were so intrigued by the dirt field that they were literally rolling in it). I don’t even know if our team won…it was enough just trying to watch Jonas play and trying to keep an eye on Xander and Roman at the same time. HaHa!!! We were super excited to see our dear neighborhood buddies, Casey and Shana, who came out to watch Jonas play too. What a great moment to share with friends! We all had a lot of fun and look forward to Jonas’ next game.
So, Jonas has been asking ALL sorts of questions lately…he’s always been a super curious little fellow but recently he’s starting to ask some hard ones…about death, about the differences between boys and girls, and about how babies are born…oh my goodness gracious.
He’s continuing to have many more moments of sweetness with his brothers, loving doing things by himself (he’s even taken an interest in washing the dishes…yes!), and enjoying his first foray into team sports with t-ball.
Here are a few of the funny things he’s been saying and asking:
“I am lying mom…I did not wash my hands.”
“Mom, how does your body make poop?”
“Mom, when you were a baby did you pop out of Maw’s tummy because she’s your mom?”
“I can carry heavy things because I’m almost a dad.”
“Why does MeMe know more about planting seeds than Xander and I do?”
The boys and I (to the exception of Roman) are feeling a little bit under the weather today, so we decided to just take it easy at home. While Roman was taking his morning nap, I loaded up my arms with snacks, drinks, paint, and paintbrushes and headed out into the front yard with Jonas and Xander to soak up a little sun. I saw a cute idea in passing on Pinterest the other day of painting rocks to look like Easter eggs instead of dyeing them. So, desperate for something to engage the boys in this morning, I grabbed some bark mulch and rocks from our flower bed and tossed them onto a cookie sheet with paint, a paintbrush, a sponge, and a wet wipe. They had a blast…I love how the differences in their personalities and in their ages come out in their artwork (check out their cookie sheet palettes…ha!). After the big boys went down for their afternoon nap, I took Roman out into the front yard so he could have some fun in the sun too…his favorite thing is the tricycle.
